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Episode: The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

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In this episode, we discuss The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which in a strange turn of events, Maartje likes better than Sam. Apparently the book is better. Sam would know, having read it. Read the book. Or be lazy, like Maartje.

Book Rec by Sam

Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Desperadoes Who Plotted Hitler’s Downfall, Giving Birth to Modern-day Black Ops by Damien Lewis

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: How Churchill’s Secret Warriors Set Europe Ablaze and Gave Birth to Modern Black Ops by Damien Lewis is one of those WWII books I would even recommend to someone who doesn’t do a lot of WWII reading. Yes, I have two separate recommendation lists in my head! Of course, this is a pop history book designed as a jumping-off point, not unlike Ben MacIntyre’s SAS Rogue Heroes, but it was thorough and well-researched, and I enjoyed the narrative-based writing style. The figure of Anders Lassen looms particularly large in my mind, even weeks after reading it. Lewis gives us as much of him as he can – the de-facto leader of the group for most of the war, and a man who died at the age of 25 and left us only a legacy through other people, as well as a half-finished diary. A soldier known for his killing abilities, he had stopped writing in it on the day he first killed a man with his knife.

Highly recommend.

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